Reverent and Joyful Worship
In two previous posts, we’ve looked at our new Mission and Vision statements. Over the next several weeks, we will discuss the Seven Foundations at Christ the King. Today, we’ll tackle the first foundation: Reverent and Joyful Worship.
Finding the Perfect Gift
Have you ever struggled to find the perfect gift for your parents, spouse, or best friend? Maybe you struggle with gift-giving, or maybe you are a difficult person to shop for! When it comes to our relationship with God, sometimes we can think in similar categories. We wonder, “God, what do you want me to do with my life? What is your will for me?” The Bible tells us that all of life is ultimately for God’s glory. “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31), Paul writes, because “from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36). Our Shorter Catechism famously and helpfully summarizes this biblical teaching in its first question and answer, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever” (SC 1).
We are to glorify God in all that we do. That is, we are to worship him. And while this command to worship is applicable seven days a week, it is especially true on the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day. God delights in our worship on Sunday because “the Father is seeking such people to worship him” (John 4:23). So, we know that God desires our worship, but how do we know that our worship is truly pleasing to him? What kind of worship is he seeking? How do we know we are giving him a gift that he truly wants?
At CTK, we believe this question—what kind of worship—can be summarized in two words: Reverent and Joyful.
Worship that Is Reverent and Joyful
John chapter 4 is a helpful guide for us here. John records the conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman. The conversation started with Jesus asking for a drink from the well but quickly turned into a deeper conversation about the meaning of life and worship. In the course of their conversation, Jesus tells her something that is a significant, load-bearing passage in our understanding of worship:
“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)
God is seeking worshippers, and these worshippers must worship God in spirit and truth. The word ‘must’ emphasizes the necessity of proper worship. That means, this conversation is not theological hair-splitting but a vital part of the Christian’s life. So, how is it that we ‘must’ worship God? We worship in spirit and truth. Both parts are important, but it is easy to overemphasize one to the expense of the other.
There are two common mistakes that churches can make regarding their worship. One mistake is to so emphasize the form of worship with its structured liturgies and traditions that they become ends unto themselves. Like unnecessary scaffolding on a building, strict formalism might appear to provide stability but upon closer inspection only supports itself and distracts from the beauty of the structure behind it. Such is the case with so-called ‘dead formalism’ which can distract and detract rather than guiding one to the proper object of worship: God alone.
This error, then, leads us to what the prophet Hosea warns about, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hos. 6:6, one of Jesus’ favorite Old Testament passages to quote). In other words, we can err when we focus too much on getting the truth of the matter right—on being reverent—when we forget that we are also called to worship in the Spirit with joy.
However, a second common mistake is made in the opposite direction. Many churches err by (in some cases sincerely) wanting to be ‘Spirit-led’ and so emphasize feeling, emotionalism, and experience at the expense of biblical truth. In this view, it is believed that God is pleased with whatever we might do in worship, so long as we do it with genuinely. In fact, any structure in worship is akin to ‘quenching the Spirit,’ and being truly ‘Spirit-led’ means embracing spontaneity. The danger, of course, is that even if we are sincere, we can be sincerely wrong.
American Evangelicalism, broadly speaking, is much more in danger of falling into the second error than the first. There is little regard paid to any principles of worship derived from Scripture, so long as the Sunday church experience is ‘powerful’ and ‘emotional’ for the audience.
In response to both errors, we must insist that worship be done, as Jesus said, “in spirit and truth.” Or, to put it another way, we want our worship to be reverent and joyful. We must worship God the way that he desires according to the truth of his word. Yet, we also must remember that as we worship him rightly we also worship him sincerely with joyful spirits aligned to his Spirit. These two components are never at odds with each other. But when we are most reverent, we will find joy. And true joy in worship comes from a proper understanding of the holy God that we love and serve.
Blessings of Word-Regulated Worship
In a recent book on Reformed Worship, Jonty Rhodes makes the helpful observation: “Our culture too quickly associates joy with casualness, frivolity, silliness. When you come to the God who deserves everything but needs nothing, the God who is ‘holy, holy, holy’ yet has freely loved and forgiven sinners, joy and reverent fear suddenly seem to be a natural combination” (Reformed Worship, 49-50).
Because this is the predominant church culture in our country today, a service like the one we have at CTK might feel too structured, even though by comparison to other church traditions and across history it is quite modest. Nevertheless, having a formal liturgy is not only helpful, but a great blessing to us as we worship. Again, Rhodes is helpful by articulating three obvious blessings for us when our worship is regulated and structured according to God’s Word (also known as the Regulative Principle of Worship).
The first blessing is that of pleasing God. We know we ought to do that which pleases God, but how can we be sure what that is? Returning to the gift-giving analogy, is God a difficult person to shop for? Or has he told us exactly what he would like us to do for him in worship? The Reformed understanding of worship insists upon the latter. And this is why Reformed worship is so freeing, because “we do what God tells us to do—and therefore what pleases him. We’re freed from the fear that we’re somehow mis-stepping” (64).
A second blessing is that we have certainty that God will meet with us in worship, according to his means of grace—the Word and Sacrament. Everyone wants to be blessed by God, experience his presence, and leave worship feeling refreshed and renewed. Yet, can we be confident that God blesses us in worship? Is such certainty purely subjective—a feeling in our stomach or goosebumps across our arms? Thankfully, this certainty does not rest on our feelings or emotions in the service (though these are not unimportant), rather, we can always be certain that God will meet with us in worship because God promises that he will through the means he has appointed. How freeing is it to know, as Rhodes summarizes, that “I don’t need to desperately search around trying to find him. He will be where he said he’ll be: meeting his people through his appointed means of grace” (67).
A final blessing in our worship is the knowledge that Christ himself is leading us. Christ is the only Head of his church, and he ultimately is the one ordering and leading our worship. Of course, he does this through his ministers appointed to serve in this capacity, but they are not given any authority to add or take away from what Christ has given them. Rather, they are to minister in Christ’s name, using only the gifts Christ has given (see our Mission Statement). Therefore, when our worship is regulated according to Christ and his Word, God’s people are free from the whims of an ever-changing ‘worship’ culture. We don’t need the latest fad, the newest song, the brightest lights, and the latest technology. If we have a Bible and some bread, wine, and water, we have everything we need.
So, why do we insist on Reverent and Joyful Worship as the first foundation of our church? Hebrews 12:28-29 reminds us, “Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” We were created to worship God, and we will only find true joy in our worship when we do so with proper reverence and awe. Let us worship him, then, reverently, according to the truth of his Word, and joyfully, with Spirit-changed hearts.
